ONLINE SHOPPING RISKS


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BOOM OR BUST – PROTECTING DATA SECURITY IS KEY TO SUSTAINING THE RISE OF E-COMMERCE SUPPLY CHAINS


E-commerce supply chains are still reeling from a surge in online orders over the past year but while it’s boom time for consumer purchases, no one underestimates the consequential risks associated with the wealth of data businesses


are having to process and protect.


Retail businesses all over the world have experienced rapidly changing customer behaviour. This has been exacerbated by temporary closures of ‘bricks and mortar’ outlets during national lockdowns, supply issues, and the acceleration of online shopping, switching attention from retail stories to fulfilment centers, which have seen their number grow in leaps and bounds. A recent survey by Supply Chain Dive found e-commerce warehousing has increased over 70% as businesses have sought new or additional fulfilment locations to manage order processing and shipping. Shopify, the e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems, says merchants


sold $5.1 billion of goods in just the few days between November’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday discount sales extravaganzas, up by almost 76% on the previous year! Many observers believe this trend and the related supply chain shift are likely to stick even after the retail sector returns to some kind of normality.


With so much disrupting their supply chains, the issue of data security has become more prevalent than ever. This data includes PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which ensures that credit card information is protected as well as ISO Standards for the security of data, and the need to protect personal customer data linked to individuals. This mine of information is highly sought- after, not least by cyber criminals.


In a connected and changing world, e-commerce makes businesses even more susceptible to website hacks, phishing, and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks to name a few. Security magazine’s 2020 E-commerce Data Protection Survey also found


that one in four online stores has suffered data losses.


With so much at stake, various measures are being used by businesses to ensure customer data is secured, such as:


• Modern and secure WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) for e-commerce warehouses – Cloud-based, centralised WMS systems to stay connected, provide real-time visibility and to help ensure reliable and integrated warehouse operations;


• Investing in automation to address areas where human errors can create risks;


• The use of third-party systems to measure API (Application Programming Interface). Nearly all retail businesses use APIs to connect services and transfer data but these need to be constantly monitored to protect businesses from data exposure or hacking;


The digital revolution means people now expect to use fast, reliable and secure self- service platforms but consumer loyalty is soon lost if they fear their personal data is not protected. Failure to earn their confidence will almost certainly bring many of today’s thriving online sales volumes to an abrupt halt.


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